A computer network is a collection of interconnected computing devices that can exchange data and share resources. Example network devices include layer two devices that operate within the second layer (L2) of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model, i.e., the data link layer, and layer three devices that operate within the third layer (L3) of the OSI reference model, i.e., the network layer. Network devices within computer networks often include a control unit that provides control plane functionality for the network device and forwarding components for routing or switching data units.
Using multicasting, a network distributes multicast packets to a set of interested receivers that can be on different subnetworks and that are configured as members of a multicast group. Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) is one example of a protocol for creating multicast distribution trees in the network for distributing packets. PIM is described in further detail in “Protocol Independent Multicast-Sparse Mode (PIM-SM): Protocol Specification (Revised),” March 2016, Internet Engineering Task Force, Request for Comments (RFC) 7761, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
In some examples, the network that distributes multicast packets may include an Ethernet Virtual Private Network (EVPN), which may be used to extend two or more layer two (L2) customer networks through an intermediate layer three (L3) network (usually referred to as a provider network), in a transparent manner, i.e., as if the intermediate L3 network does not exist. In particular, the EVPN transports L2 communications, such as Ethernet packets or “frames,” between customer networks via traffic engineered label switched paths (LSP) through the intermediate network in accordance with one or more multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) protocols. In a typical configuration, provider edge (PE) devices (e.g., routers and/or switches) coupled to the customer edge (CE) network devices of the customer networks define label switched paths (LSPs) within the provider network to carry encapsulated L2 communications as if these customer networks were directly attached to the same local area network (LAN). In some configurations, the PE devices may also be connected by an IP infrastructure in which case IP/GRE tunneling or other IP tunneling can be used between the network devices.
In an EVPN, L2 address learning (also referred to as “MAC learning”) in a PE device occurs in the control plane rather than in the data plane (as happens with traditional bridging) using a routing protocol. For example, in EVPNs, a PE device typically uses the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) (i.e., an L3 routing protocol) to advertise to other provider edge network devices the MAC addresses learned from the local consumer edge network devices to which the PE device is connected. A PE device may use BGP route advertisement messages to announce reachability information for the EVPN, where the BGP route advertisements specify one or more MAC addresses learned by the PE device instead of L3 routing information.
In an EVPN configuration referred to as the active-active EVPN multi-homing mode of operation, an Ethernet segment includes multiple PE devices that provide multi-homed connectivity for one or more local customer edge (CE) devices. Moreover, the multiple PE device provide transport services through the intermediate layer 3 network to a remote PE device, and each of the multiple PE devices in the Ethernet segment forwards Ethernet frames in the segment for the CE device. In the active-active EVPN multi-homing mode of operation, all active PE devices of the multi-homing PE devices are allowed to concurrently forward traffic to and from an Ethernet segment that make up the set of L2 links connecting the multi-homed CE device with the multi-homing PE devices. Additional example information with respect to EVPN is described in “BGP MPLS-Based Ethernet VPN,” Request for Comments (RFC) 7432, Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), February, 2015, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
To facilitate inter-subnet forwarding among customer endpoints across different L3 subnets, a PE device may be configured with an EVPN instance that uses an integrated routing and bridging (IRB) interface to locally perform L3 routing of inter-subnet traffic rather than via an L3 gateway. A PE device configured with an IRB interface for an EVPN instance may therefore both locally route inter-subnet traffic and bridge intra-subnet traffic. Additional example information with respect to integrated routing and bridging for EVPNs is described in “Integrated Routing and Bridging in EVPN,” draft-ietf-bess-evpn-inter-subnet-forwarding-01, L2VPN Workgroup, Oct. 18, 2015, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. In response to locally learning a L2-L3 binding for a customer endpoint bridged by an EVPN instance, a PE device may advertise the binding using a BGP EVPN route with a BGP Network Layer Reachability Information (NLRI) that indicates the L2 address and L3 address for the customer endpoint are reachable via the PE device. In RFC 7432, this type of BGP EVPN route is referred to as a MAC/IP advertisement route (Type 2).